i get paid by the word, and louis talked too much in the last block, so i'm making john tower be quiet this time. i'm going to do the "why are you awake?" your tweets, texts and e-mails. kevin, i'm up because my ambien failed me. #insomnia. i'm sorry about that. maybe keeping up with our tennessee theme, let me find, good morning and bless y'all hearts. that goes to mika and "morning joe" as well, and of course "morning joe" starts right now. why are you dancing around the question of whether or not we kill civilians? why can't the government at least admit that civilians have been killed? >> i don't think that i'm dancing around it. i didn't dispute it. what i can't do --

>> civilians have been killed, right? >> i don't disagree with that. >> okay. do you think this is going to imperil john brennan's nomination? >> the president believes that john brennan is uniquely qualified as a 25-year veteran of intelligence work. >> okay. good morning, everyone. it's the top of the hour. 6:00 on the east coast. it's thursday, february 7th. welcome to "morning joe." with us on set, we have the chairman of deutsche incorporated, donny deutsch. and former treasury official and "morning joe" economic analyst, steve rattner. and from washington, nbc chief foreign affairs correspondent and host of "andrea mitchell reports," andrea mitchell. andrea, good morning. >> good morning. hi, mika. >> want to get straight into the news. chris christie's back in the news. he kind of fired back at that white house doctor who made some really kind of inappropriate comments about his weight. >> yeah, did you hear about

that? >> i thought. i thought it was great what he said. it's exactly the conversation that we don't need to have about weight and obesity. we need to have a better one. hopefully this will lead to that at some point. it's what i'm writing about. >> so this doctor says that she's afraid chris christie's going to die. >> yeah, and she goes on camera and says that. >> and then chris christie fires back. >> said "shut up." >> you know, we shouldn't be talking about that. >> why? >> because there's much bigger news out there. >> what's that? >> what do you think? everybody's talking about it. >> lindsay lohan. what? >> she's broke. poor lindsay lohan is broke. and she's moving back home. and i don't know. i want to help her. can we start a lindsay lohan fund in >> no, we really can't. >> can we put donny in charge of it? >> young adults today having to move back home because of the economy. first generation that's not going to mobilely go upward like

past generations. >> much like arthur schlessinger's biography of robert f. kennedy. i think the story of lindsay lohan is a story of our time. >> okay. >> turn it over to meacham. he'll do a biography. >> meacham could do it. >> you know some of the lohans, don't you, donny? >> i do. i know her mom. >> how did you know that, willie? >> she's hot and in her whos. 40s. >> we've had dinner. >> oh, my lord. >> a cultural scientist. i kind of like to get up close in front. >> you're a journalist. >> i had that get that out there. >> my counterpunch. >> that is awful. >> i can already see -- >> what's that? >> oh, god. okay. we're going to get to the news. members of congress demanding more details into how the administration justifies the targeted killing of american citizens. the white house says president obama has directed the

department of justice to brief members of the intelligence committees. the move comes after a bipartisan group of 11 senators led by democratic senator ron wyden of oregon called for more insight into the government's legal rationale for drone strikes against americans abroad. senator wyden said on twitter, "every american has the right to know when their government believes it's allowed to kill them." this followed the leaked white house memo obtained by nbc news this week detailing criteria required for such a strike. this is all unfolding before today's senate confirmation hearing for john brennan, nominated to be the next head of the cia. and andrea mitchell, i wonder if this could, in any way, get in the way of brennan again. >> well, this is so much in a state of flux right now. clearly, i mean, the president's called to senator wyden last night, so unusual to try to

reassure him and try to ward off what could be a calamitous hearing today. the fact is that brennan was already going to be asked about enhanced interrogation techniques. john mccain has raised those issues. but in terms of the democratic group and actually susan collins was one of those as well, the 11 senators led by john wyden and three of them are on the committee including wyden and susan collins, and they were pushing for the release of this. and then mike rogers on our air yesterday, the house intelligence chair not in the confirmation process, but he lent his voice. senator feinstein was obviously working behind the scenes. and so finally last night around 6:30, 7:00 last night, the white house relented and the president called wyden. i know you guys are going to talk to wyden later. but this is a very big deal because now the drone policy is going to be central to this confirmation hearing today. >> you know, yesterday pete wehner wrote this. and he's quoting barack obama

from may 29th, 2009, the famous speech at the national archives. where he says, let me be clear. we are at war with al qaeda, but we need to update our institutions and do so with an abiding confidence in the rule of law and due process. in checks and balances and accountability for reasons i will explain, the decisions were made over the last eight years during the bush years established an ad hoc legal approach for fighting terrorism that was neither effective nor sustainable. a framework that failed to rely on our legal traditions and time-tested institutions and that failed to use our values as a compass. those words, steve, whether you agree with this drone program or not, as pet wehner concludes, makes the president look hypocritical, at least. >> i can't totally argue with that. >> why can't you totally argue with that? why don't you just say pete is right? >> he's right on some things and

i'm not sure he's right on others. on the first thing, disclosure, people have tagged obama for the fact in 2009 he insisted on d disclosure -- >> and transparency and checks and balances. >> right. i can't understand why there isn't a version of this memo that could be released so americans do know what the policy is on these matters. i think that's fine. i think the question of whether you actually undertake operations that may endanger american citizens when you have good reason and you follow procedures, i don't think the president is on weak ground in asserting his right to do that. >> joe, i want to respond to what you're claiming, while he spoke this way in 2009, he speaks differently today. i believe that when a president is in office, maybe after one, two, three, four years of kind of living in reality of coming from outside the beltway, that you do change your tune sometimes. >> sure. >> and that idealistically going in may have felt one way and in living in reality made --

brought up to speed on the reality of what happens domestically. i have no problem with it. >> you were just saying what i was saying six months before the president was elected, that maybe he shouldn't be so critical of george w. bush and dick cheney until he knew exactly the challenges they faced every day. and he was so judgmental. he was so self-righteous. he was so damning of george w. bush, suggesting that he didn't respect the constitution and checks and balances. and my gosh, mika, what he's doing, at least in my mind, is even more chilling. >> but also, joe, george w. bush was elected on a platform of saying we're not going to get involved in nation building. we're going to worry about our own affairs and clinton had done too much nation building and then he turned into the biggest nation-builder president we've had in sometime. >> after 9/11, right. i don't think he ever accused, mika, bill clinton of shredding

the constitution. >> i mean, look -- >> which he was accused of doing. which he accused george w. bush of doing. >> i have to say, i was definitely on the critical end of things, as were members of my family. we were very, very, very concerned about how far the bush administration pushed the boundaries of not only, you know, what is constitution but what is morally right. and this is definitely in the same category, completely in the same category. this argument. i'm not saying we shouldn't be doing it. >> again, whether you have an issue with it is not the point that pete wehner is trying to make or quite frankly the point i've been trying to make for five or six years. and willie, i'll go back to it, and we're going to pull the tape. liberals were angry at barack obama for suggesting that he wasn't going to push to have george w. bush tried for war crimes. >> right.

>> and they were screaming and yelling, and i remember saying in realtime, you really want that to happen? what standard will barack obama be held to four or eight years from now after the pictures of the little children who were killed by his drone attacks are placed before the jury in the hague? and again, the self-righteousness, the hypocrisy of the left to go suddenly silent when we're now talking about targeting and killing americans without any due process, without any evidence. there's a double standard here. and i just want -- i want everybody that said what they said about george w. bush who, by the way, briefed dianne feinstein. briefed jay rockefeller. briefed democrats in charge of the intel committee back in 2002 about exactly what they were doing. i want those people to apologize to george w. bush. >> and donny, you said you don't have a problem with it. did you or do you still have a problem with people being held

at guantanamo without charge, with no due process there? because if you do, if you have any problem with that, how could you not have a problem with somebody being killed in the process? >> let me ask it this way. i didn't have the problems with george w. bush either. i believe this is war, not law enforcement. and i believe -- i'm not going to answer idealistically but in reality. if i said to you these domestic drone attacks or the holding at guantanamo bay would prevent a family member in the future from being killed, you go, right on. so we sit here idealistically, unless it hits close to home. and i, in this world of terror, i do think there are new rules. and it's interesting because i'm a liberal overall. in this instance, i am quite the opposite. >> yeah. and i also think these aren't the issues that brought down the bush administration. in fact, he was re-elected. i know friends who were in the voting booth holding their babies and were going to vote against bush and didn't because

he was so, quote, strong on foreign policy. >> you say, quote. that's why i voted for him. i trusted george bush to make hard, tough decisions that i thought john kerry might waver on. >> thank you. which is why i don't think obama will have any problem with this. >> i think it helps him. >> he'll look like a strong, and just like he did a year ago, just like when he killed bin laden, he looks incredibly strong on foreign policy. and this will not provide a weak spot for him in the long run. >> mika, really quickly, i agree with you there. i don't think there's going to be a political fallout from it. >> yeah. >> i think one of the things that disturbs me so much is the fact that americans are not any more concerned about other americans being able to be targeted and killed without any due process. and i'll say it again because i can hear people saying, well, why didn't you say that about george w. bush? i did. i did on padilla. i did when there were americans whose constitutional rights were being eviscerated by what was

going on during the bush era. i spoke out then. i'm speaking out now. but i'm frightened that more americans are not focused on this. >> so i also think what's fair is your frustration, if you have any, about the hypocrisy in terms of the reaction on the left. andrea, i do want to ask you, though, in terms of these drone strikes and what has happened so far, what is, as far as we know, the story as it pertains to civilian casualties, to those who get caught in this? you've written about this. you've written about little children getting caught in the cross fire. how much of that is a part of the story? how much of that has happened, do we know? >> we don't know. and that's one of the problems, there are all sorts of allegations that come from yemen, from pakistan. and frankly, there has been very little reporting on the ground. some of these places are very hard to get to. certainly in the territories in

pakistan, those lawless territories. we don't have american or other western reporters there. so we don't know what is happening in these villages and what the blowback is. john brennan has indicated through other, you know, friends and associates that he wanted these strikes to be fairly rare and that he wants them to be moved from the cia back to the pentagon. but the fact is that there has been something like a 700% increase in the use of drones under president obama as compared to george w. bush. >> and andrea, as you know, from your sources at the agency and i know from my sources not only from the agency but in the entire intelligence community when barack obama came into office, they specifically said, they wanted to ramp up drone operations. and they wanted there to be a side-by-side comparison of how many strikes bush did versus how many strikes they did. for brennan to say that he wants to pull back on drone strikes, that's just -- that's just not accurate.

and that's not what's been happening since january 20th, 2009. you can go back. and when the history is written, you will go back to january 20th, 2009, and see a very deliberate -- >> executive orders. >> executive orders. and again, i think most americans probably support this policy. so it's not like i'm talking about anything that's going to be scandalous. most people will support the president doing this. but it obviously causes a lot of concerns. specifically because we can't figure out how many people die on the ground. >> i think thas a big question. >> as you know, andrea, people on the ground are going to exaggerate, and sometimes the numbers are going to be faulty. we're going to try to underplay it. we may never know how many civilians are killed in these strikes. >> and the other big issue here, i think, is the legal justification. first of all, why they resist it in briefing the committees, they're going to bring those documents over and brief the committee this morning, hours

before the hearing. why they fought this for so many months when there have not been leaks from these committees. these committees work very closely with the white house and the intelligence community, dianne feinstein, michael rodgers on the house side. so that is sort of a mystery why they fought this so hard. the other piece is that their definition of imminent is really troublesome to a lot of people. not just people on the left or democrats, but a lot of people who believe that describing an imminent threat as an ongoing threat without a specific plot takes it too far and the fact that, as you know from last year, "the new york times" reported the kill list with the president individually signing off on these. brennan said in his answers yesterday to the committee, written answers, that these are all carefully vetted, but people want to know, what's the oversight? >> joe, we talk about due process. what is the difference between a waco, texas, situation where the

government, where law enforcement goes in, whatever they have to do to take out the problem, and using drones? it's just a different technology. it's a different method of solving a problem. there's no due process at that point. in acts of war, in acts of violence when we proactively or even reactively act against it, this is just more an advanced way of doing it. where is the due process in those other situations? obviously it comes back to the question of andrea as far as the word imminent, but i just see it as a more sophisticated, more technologically advanced way of solving problems. >> you talked about waco. i think it was a horrible mistake by the justice department and the people on the ground to do what they did. i think it was handfisted, and a lot of people died unnecessarily. that said, the government believed at that point that the children inside were in imminent harm. n in imminent danger. i'm not sure how you save the children by burning the place

down, but that's the calculation that they made. and that goes back, steve, to the question of imminent. what is imminent? obviously i'd be the first one to say if they have evidence that this guy is planning an attack, kill him. fine with it. but you know what? there's no problem going to a fisa-style court talking to retired federal judges like bush had to do and say, hey, listen. this is the evidence we have. we believe this guy is going to -- and i've known judges that have been on these fisa courts. let me tell you something. they don't talk. they do not say a word to anybody. the administration should be able to go in and say, this is the guy. this is the evidence that we have. we're not sure when it's going to happen. but we believe that he's right now working on killing americans. can we -- we think we have probable cause. the judges are going to say yeah, kill him. let other people look at it. >> first, as you said, i think the administration has a disclosure problem here because i read that white paper that nbc

got ahold of. i didn't see anything in it that was militarily sensitive or intelligence sensitive. it could have been, i would imagine, released weeks ago. i think the american people do have the right to know the basis which we're undertaking it. that said, i agree with donny and others that we are in a war against al qaeda. when you're in a war, you do what you have to do to pursue your war. if there has beens to be an american as was the guy in yemen a few years ago in the mix of this, then that's the way it is. i don't think you can be in a position of going to congress which some have suggested. >> absolutely not. >> the fisa-style court may well be a good idea. but i think at the end of the day, we have elected leaders. we trust them. the american people have the right to know what the policies are and then carry them out and deal with terrorism. that's what we're asking them to do. coming up, we're going to talk to democratic senator ron wyden about his concern over the white house drone program. also, biographer and president of the aspen institute, walter

isaacson, will be here along with nbc political director, chuck todd. and former president of ford motors and at&t, ed whitacre. >> the top recruits at vanderbilt. >> alabama was number one. s.e.c. cleaned up again. >> did you see ole miss? ole miss, hottie tottie, baby. i don't know, but i hope they keep doing it. by the way, i got invited by curtis willkie to go down, and we're going to have -- and donny, they will love you in mississippi. >> yes, they will. de de ina lohan. >> a friend of mine just texted me and said you're scrumptious. >> you will leave oxford. we'll leave it there. willie would agree with me. >> it's a special place. >> it is a special place.

i think we'll go down to the ole mi miss/lsu game and do something live from there. you would love it. >> ole miss is playing vandy in nashville next year. >> i'll bring the bagels and lox. >> you and rattner, you guys will do so well. coming up next, jim vandehei in the top stories in the "politico playbook." i'm going right past mika's text. >> she wants to know what shoes you're wearing, too. >> what shoes i'm wearing? >> yes. oh, that's a shame. don't take them off. >> they're the best i have right here. >> oh, my. >> i'm from florida. what can i say? first here's bill karins with a check on the forecast. bill, answer the question we all need to know. is the storm going to hit tonight? is the storm going to hit by rush hour home? this is a massive one. when are we going to feel it? >> a lot of people will get to work or school just fine tomorrow morning in light snow. the really heavy stuff is not till friday night. i think the kids may get home all right, but getting home

tomorrow night in new england, that's the tricky part. the two storms are going to combine into one big storm friday afternoon and evening to become our blizzard friday night through saturday morning. so we have the rain in the southeast today, and then the snow and rain mixture going through the midwest and the great lakes. we already have blizzard watches up for this area in the greenish shading here. it includes boston, providence, over to hartford, new haven, all coastal areas of rhode island and out towards cape cod. that doesn't mean everyone else isn't going to be bad, but that's where it's going to be the worst. in that green shading, 12 to 24 inches of snow, one to two feet. widespread right over the top of i-95. these wind gusts could approach hurricane-force gusts. when we get that heavy snow with winds that strong, we're going to get some downed trees and power outages. and that's not what you want in the middle of a blizzard. also, the flooding could be really bad. coastal areas of new hampshire, eastern mass, the boston area, especially south of boston, out on cape cod, we could get a storm surge and high tide saturday morning that we could deal with major flooding.

so here's my official snowfall map. again, the area of highest snows, this little blue section in here. that's where we could see someone getting 24 to 30 inches of snow. that would make this historic. one to two feet in this coloring in here. and then the pink is 6 to 12. that's widespread almost all of new york state through vermont and new hampshire. some of our big cities, new york city's the trickiest forecast along with long island and coastal connecticut. we're going to go from snow tomorrow morning to a period of rain and heavy rain friday. and then over to a period of heavy snow as the storm leaves late friday night. that's why the storm totals are lower there. but hartford's going to be in the bull's-eye. again, boston, 18 to 24 inches possible. so that would probably cripple boston. travel would be difficult probably till maybe saturday night or maybe sunday morning. make your plan as cordingly. i know airlines are already starting to cancel flights and letting you change stuff for free. go ahead and do that now while you can. more updates throughout the morning here on "morning joe." we're brewed by starbucks.

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with multiple lacerations to the wing and a fractured beak. surgery was successful, but he will be in a cast until it is fully healed, possibly several months. so, if the duck isn't able to work, how will he pay for his living expenses? aflac. like his rent and car payments? aflac. what about gas and groceries? aflac. cell phone? aflac, but i doubt he'll be using his phone for quite a while cause like i said, he has a fractured beak. [ male announcer ] send the aflac duck a get-well card at getwellduck.com.

27 past the hour. time now to take a look at the "morning papers." from our parade of papers, "the dallas morning news." usairways and american airlines' parent company amr are reportedly in talks of a merger. right now the negotiations are described as fluid, but if a deal goes through, it would create the world's largest airline. the combined company would also have a market cap of $10 billion. "the new york times," the u.s. has tightened economic sanctions on iran to force the ayatollah's hand to halt its nuclear program. this morning iran's supreme leader rejected proposals for direct nuclear talks with the united states. there's a concern that the effects of tighter economic sanctions will not have the desired impact despite a drop in oil exports and currency value, "the times" reports say the

restrictions already in place have done little to slow economic development in tehran. "the washington post," u.s. senator bob menendez tried to intercede on two occasions for his friend, florida doctor salomon melgan whose offices were raided by the fbi. occasion officials found he overbilled medicare by almost $9 million and ordered him to repay. twice menendez contacted officials to say they were unfairly penalizing melgan who is a campaign donor. menendez has come under scrutiny. he later repaid $58,000 for trips. "usa today," walt disney has cleared the way for george lucas to sell his $2 billion stake in the company. that would allow the legendary filmmaker to sell any of his 37 million shares of stock if he chooses. disney bought his vaunted production house lucasfilm in december. lucas says he will donate most of the proceeds from that sale

to education. time now for "politico." >> let's check in with jim vandehei, executive editor down at "politico" for a look at the "playbook." jim, what's going on? >> good. how you doing? >> doing all right. we've got your behind-the-curtain report this morning. you're talking about the separation between the republican party, fox news, they've shed now dick morris to go along with governor palin. what's going on here inside the republican party? >> i think what's fascinating is you have these parallel purges. you have the republican party and you have fox news. both of which took a big hit in the 2012 elections. fox has seen its ratings dip particularly in january. republicans have obviously had a lot of problems with their brand post-election. so both sides are trying to get rid of the most toxic characters. on the one side, you have fox getting rid of palin. you have fox getting rid of dick morris. you have some of their bigger names advocating for a rethinking of immigration reform.

on the official republican side, you have karl rove who's a fox contributor leading this effort to create a super pac to get rid of candidates like steve king in iowa or everyone remembers todd akin in missouri. these candidates that they think are not electable in general elections. >> you know, it's interesting about fox, yesterday you guys, "politico" had -- and i just saw it as i was reading this. okay, seriously? how much worse can it get for conservatives? it's like kicking the elephant when it's down and dying here. i think dylan byers put up a poll that talked about the most trusted networks and the least trusted networks and talked about how fox's -- people's trust in fox has gone down. fox still, obviously, was well above a lot of other networks. but i thought the real kick in the teeth of conservatives was the most trusted network in america by almost a 2-1 margin

while everybody else was upside down. did you read dylan's post? do you know what the answer to that is? >> i don't know the answer to that. i must confess, i did not read it yet. >> b.s. the network that conservatives like myself have been trying to defund, since 1994, we've been trying to defund pbs. and you look at the poll. so fox is upside down now, and pbs is the most trusted network in america by a long shot. it really gets no worse for conservatives. this is not our season which, of course, means only one thing, willie. when things look this bad, i swear to god ish , it happened republicans in '64. everyone said they're dad. they come back to win in '66. democrats were dead in '04. remember you said it's the most depressed democrats have ever been. they come back and win big in '06 and '08. >> of course, it forces the hand.

>> everything is going so bad. pbs, the most trusted network in news, and this can only mean one thing. a republican landslide in a couple years. i mean, it's just so -- >> it's not funny because in reality, that is the only thing that moves the dime. in desperate times, you know, creates this. you are absolutely right. >> donny, that is a great point. as you go back and you read history and you see what happened, because there's always this back and forth. it takes a gun to the head of the established interests, the republican consultants that have taken over this party in washington, d.c. it takes that sort of thing just like democrats. you lose 49 states to ronald reagan, you know what? steve, and you were part of it, you lose 49 states to ronald reagan, that's when democrats get together and say, okay, how do we fix this party? >> absolutely. but remember, it also took the democrats 12 years to fix the party after the 1980 election. they lost 1980, '84, '88 and finally in '92 they came back,

partly because of exactly what you're referring to, which is bill clinton pulling together the center of the democratic party. but if it weren't for ross perot, george h.w. bush would have won a second term. >> i mean, fortunately for republicans, andrea, we probably aren't going to have to wait 12 years because our opponents are democrats. >> there are always cycles. and it's interesting that marco rubio is going to give the response to the state of the union. we know from bobby jindal and others how difficult it is to have a venue. mitch daniels, needing people, it's very hard to go up against the president of the united states and the whole pomp and circumstance of the state of the union. but marco rubio, such a good speaker and giving this primetime opportunity by the republican party. and a question to you, what is the story out of miami about jeb bush trying to buy the marlins? is that for real? >> i don't know. >> oh. willie? >> we're going to talk about that in sports. >> i'm sorry, i jumped the gun. >> no, no, it's a good story. >> just go ahead and kill hamlet

in the first act. >> sorry, willie. >> no, that's a tease. >> that's a great tease. that's what we call in the business a deep tease. >> andrea knows how to tease. andrea mentioned governor jindal. he's at the forefront of this republican frustration. said we have to stop being the stupid party. you guys talked to him for this piece on "politico" today. he said we need serious changes in the way we talk and the way we act. what does that mean exactly? is that beginning to manifest itself in any way? >> i don't know. i think it's too early. and i think that's the cautionary note you have to have to all these stories about republicans wanting to change the cast of the characters. at the end of the day, it is the policies that either win or lose elections. and you have a base of the republican party that karl rove says they're going to create this super pac to get more electable conservatives. look at the backlash in conservative media. look at the backlash among conservative act irvistivisacti. they think karl rove is the

problem, not todd akin. the results show me the base has more authority right now than the establishment. so the establishment might want change, and they could force some change. but if the grass roots of the republican party is opposed to that change, that tension is going to keep the party paralyzed. and that's why someone -- andrea was talking about marco rubio doing that speech. that's why someone like marco rubio can step forward and bridge the two sides. that's the key. you change this stuff with one or two big figures who take over the party who can move the party. >> speaking of deep teases, we may see mr. rubio again in our "time" magazine unveiling coming up a little bit later. i'm just saying. perhaps. i don't know where it's going to be. inside, on the cover. who knows? >> who knows? >> we'll see. >> interesting, the synergy that you weave the thread to bring the show together. >> i follow andrea's lead on tv and in life. jim vandehei with a look at the "politico playbook." coming up, andrea's spoiler alert on jeb bush and the miami

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♪ it was the best day ♪ ♪ it was the best day yeah! ♪ it was the best day ♪ because of you [sigh] [echoing] we make a great pair. huh? progressive and the great outdoors -- we make a great pair. right, totally, uh... that's what i was thinking. covering the things that make the outdoors great. now, that's progressive. call or click today. time for a little sports now at 6:39. here, brian shactman joining us to talk a little sports and

football. college football, national signing day was yesterday. that's the day when all the high school kids announce which schools they're going to choose. and guess who was on top again. alabama. according to espn, they got the top class followed by florida, ohio state, notre dame and ole miss. >> yeah, baby! >> oh, my. >> hottie tottie! come on, rebels! >> that was loud. just woke me up. >> taking the nation's top recruit, this defensive player. of course, it wouldn't be national signing day with a little intrigue. it's gotten so weird and out of hand. all the kids have a press conference. they announce it on espn. alex collins had committed to arkansas but he could not make it official at his press conference. >> did you hear this, mika? >> because they couldn't find the letter of intent that he has to sign. where was it? his mother had taken and hidden it because she didn't want him to move so far from home to play for arkansas. >> great story. >> and said she wants him to stay close to home in florida

and play for miami. the school couldn't talk about him because they hadn't signed him technically. his mom had hidden the letter because she didn't want him to leave home. >> i heard she came to school where he was going to have the press conference, grabbed the letter and ran home with it. >> you think he's going to hear about that for the rest of his life? mama took your letter. vanderbilt in the 19th best class. impossible. unheard of. james franklin is changing it. it's a whole new game. >> if stanford can do well and if notre dame can do well, then vanderbilt can do well. >> the irony, ole miss cracks the top five with all the big dogs and everyone starts thinking, how do they do that? how can they get those players to go there instead of alabama? >> it's because "morning joe's" been talking about ole miss. >> we're doing this right. there's nothing untoward the guy. they took his older brother who wasn't a big recruit. the parents wanted the brothers to play together, and that's how they got them.

>> and ole miss had a good year this past year. and willie, you can talk to most of the people down there. i go down there, and they win their first s.e.c. game in a long time. they have a good-luck charm. >> yeah, that's what you are. that's the way i look at you. okay. >> the more time at the grove, the better. >> it's amazing. >> here's the story that andrea was talking about. jeb bush apparently at one point was trying to get in on the family baseball business. "the miami herald" is reporting that he and a group, jeb bush, the former governor, made a, quote, large offer to buy the miami marlins, but owner jeffrey loria made it clear that he had no plans to sell. he reportedly put together a bunch of wealthy investors to buy the team before loria shut is all down. bush would not have been the first member of his family to own a baseball team. of course, george w. bush, managing partner of the rangers. it's not going to happen, but

apparently sometime ago he made a push to buy the team. >> why can't baseball do well in the state of florida? >> i don't know. they say it's transplants. they say there aren't enough people committed to the area who grew up in those areas. i don't totally buy that, though. >> we're baseball crazy down there. when it comes to supporting a professional team, outside pensacola, it doesn't happen. >> they've got a big, beautiful stadium. >> what about tampa bay, one of the most extraordinary success stories based on what they have, and a lot of times in playoff runs, they can't even fill the stadium. >> spring training dilutes it, and also they say atlanta, florida cities just not good sports towns. and miami's not considered a good sports town. >> wow. >> most popular baseball team in tampa, the new york yankees, part of the problem. up next, managing editor of "fortune" magazine, andy serwer, takes us inside the new issue. you're watching "morning joe" brewed by starbucks.

a live look at capitol hl as the sun has yet to come up over washington. looks like it's going to be a pretty morning. we have a storm coming. at 47 past the hour. speaking of a storm coming, with us now, the managing editor of "fortune" magazine -- >> i love that. >> -- andy serwer. "fortune's" latest issue is on ebay's big comeback. we'll get to that in just a moment. first, we'll get one "must-read opinion page" in, this is from "the wall street journal." the most disinvenwith us white house claim is that the sequester will hurt the economy, reality check. the cuts amount to about 0.5% of gdp. the theory that any and all government spending is stimulus has been put to the test over the last five years, and the result has been the weakest recovery in 75 years and

trillion-dollar annual deficits. the sequester will help the economy by leaving more capital for private investment. the sequester will surely require worker furloughs and cutbacks in certain nonpriority services. but most of those layoffs will happen in the washington, d.c., area. the recession-free region that has boomed during the obama era. >> wow. not a lot of republicans would agree with that because the sequester would hurt the pentagon. that's why they're talking about the d.c. area. >> can you raise my hand and say i'm one republican that would agree with that? we've got to cut defense spending. >> we have to. >> we've got to, and we've got to cut spending. >> willy-nilly, though. so the sequester is willy-nilly, isn't it? you wouldn't want to cut having the sequester do it? >> didn't congress make the sequester? >> that was a carrot and stick situation. the sequester is the stick. >> the problem is you can't get the president of the united states to put alternative cuts on the board. he'll talk in generalities. and the republicans and the

democrats don't trust each other. so yes, i don't like the ad hoc approach, but given the choice between an ad hoc approach and no approach at all with trillion-dollar deficits every year, i choose cuts. but let's talk about this. how badly do you think it will hurt the economy? you think "the wall street journal's" underselling it? >> i do think they're underselling it. first, half a percentage point of gdp is very significant. if you're talking about government, the business of government being a part of gdp and you're saying -- you're discounting that, okay, fair enough. but these are real jobs. these are people who get pay and then go to safeway and buy things. i mean, why are you not saying that's a real part of the economy? i really don't understand it. and by the way, there's a lot of links. i agree with you, the defense department needs to be trimmed big time. there's a linkage between the defense department and technology. >> streamlined. >> it's not a simple thing. >> i will say this, though. the defense budget is just absolutely --

>> bloated. >> -- exploded. >> i don't know what you mean. >> it is bloated. you can't even -- and you have dave walker who comes on here all the time. >> yeah. >> and says you can't even audit the pentagon because it's so bloated. and yet you've got people on capitol hill saying at this point we're not cutting the fat anymore. we're cutting the bone. that's laughable. we spend so much. >> if you don't go after -- very simple business -- if you don't go after defense and entitlements, you don't solve the problem. everything else is discussion. >> okay. "fortune" magazine. ebay is back. >> yes. we all know about ebay in the dotcom era auctions, buying snowglobes and pez dispensers. >> don't mock what joe does. >> people collect them. it sort of had their moment, it seemed, and then went away to many people in the middle of the last decade. john donahoe has brought the

company back. they're supercharged by paypal. it's a juggernaut. that's a way of paying for things not only on ebay but thousands of other sites. they also own stubhub which is a nice little business. they got rid of skype. and right now you can use their mobile payments system to say you're looking for a nintendo wii, and you can look on ebay's app and see if it's at a home dep depot, if it's at another store, if it's at target you can buy it at ebay or anywhere. most people in the united states have probably used ebay sometime during the past week and not even known it. >> it's absolutely amazing. here's my iphone. if we can go to the shot. i tapped the wrong one here. hold on. amazon and ebay right there. >> yeah. >> i seriously can buy anything in the world while i'm rushing into work. i can -- and next to it is bank of america. i can do all of my banking

online. these three buttons, i can transfer money to my kids. i can do anything. it seriously is so easy. >> it's one click. paypal is huge. it would be its own fortune 500 company now, and it's growing like crazy. and the other thing about ebay, unlike amazon, amazon has alienated a lot of other stores. traditional retailers scared to death of amazon. meanwhile ebay is working with other retailers. you think of amazon being this juggernaut of retailing online. ebay is quietly not only a big presence online but also integrating offline which is traditional stores and online as well. >> do you shop online? >> a little bit, yeah. >> i want to ask you a question that's interesting for the economy. would you say you spend more or less shopping because you can buy online now versus -- >> you know what? i never shop. i never shop. i hate going to stores. if i have extra time, i'm with my kids. but guess what? >> this is additional spending.

>> i shop so much more here. i need this. and i go on it, i press it, and it takes me three minutes to buy it. it shows up at my house the next day. i never shop. i spend more money. >> think about if you have little kids, there's something called diapers.com which has changed the way mothers do business. you go on a website, in the span of five minutes, you can order everything you need for a month, diapers, formula. and it shows up sometimes later that day at your front door. it's a totally different world. you don't have to go out into the world. >> it's the kids. >> it's changed everything and it makes things so much easier. >> andy, stay with us. by the way, all of our must-read opinion pages are on our website, mojo.msnbc.com. check out my latest "women of value" blog post. >> who are you looking at today? >> danielle gray. she's a basketball junkie. >> what does she do at the white house? >> oh, she's a -- well, she just got promoted as a liaison to the president between the president and the cabinet.

and she's working on all the big issues on the front lines with the president including immigration and the economy. she's amazing. she's 34. >> does that still separate us? i know the whole purpose is to recognize and elevate, but in a strange way, the more we designate top 50 women in business, we're still doing a second-class citizen-type thing. >> no. coming up, we go behind the scenes of -- you know what? >> i love barry manilow. >> a rock snob. we go behind the scenes of his opening night on broadway with theater owner jordan roth. we are back in just a moment. [ woman ] my boyfriend and i were going on vacation,

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when we come back, we'll talk to democratic senator ron wyden who is dmaemanding the government's legal justification for targeting american terror suspects with deadly strikes. also, biographer and president of the aspen institute, walter isaacson, joins us on set along with reverend al sharpton. keep it right here on "morning joe." i'm a conservative investor.

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i won't talk about specific instances, but the fact is is that the methods that we use are designed specifically to avoid civilian casualties. i think it's fair to say that far fewer civilians lose their lives in an effort to go after senior leadership in al qaeda along the lines that we are discussing here as opposed to an effort to invade a country with hundreds of thousands of troops and take cities and towns. >> all right. top of the hour. a live look at the white house.

welcome back to "morning joe." joining us on set, president and ceo of the aspen institute, walter isaacson, author of the biography "steve jobs." we also have with us, the host of msnbc's "politics nation" and president of the national action network, reverend al sharpton. good to have you. walter. >> mika. >> willie, you were just bringing up to me off air, "the wall street journal" supports the president. >> yeah, the editorial page says that drone warfare is necessary and legal to protect america. that the president ought to have his way based on what they've seen on that white paper. also, that judicial review is a terrible idea. they say that requiring judges to approve a list of enemy targets on the battlefield is the quickest way to lose a war. so they're for the president and his case on foreign policy. >> they're with him, and we're sure it hurts the editors of the editorial page. walter isaacson, we see this time and time again.

every candidate runs for president, talks about transparency, talks about keeping congress informed, talks about checks and balances, talks about how the current occupant of the white house is not transparent enough and is expanding presidential force at a dangerous clip, and then they get into office -- >> it will particularly surprise you that you're more in favor of transparency when you want the secrets than when you're keeping the secrets. that's pretty natural. every time a new weapons system comes in, the most obvious being the atomic bomb, we've got to figure out how does it fit into strategy? we've not quite done that with the drones. i think you have to worry about what happens when other nations have drones? are there going to be some international, you know, ways that we deal with drones? secondly, i think the president has been very good. i think he's been a little bit more open than his critics say. i think he is going to release all those memos. i do think he called ron wyden. you're going to have ron wyden

on after. >> he's on the next block. >> yeah. ask him. i think the president picked up the phone and called him and said yeah, i'm going to open up and give you some of these memos. it will lead to the type of discussion we need to have to say, how are we going to fit drones into our force? >> al, how do we deal -- i've been worried about the excessive use of the drone program without the guidelines for some time, and i think walter just brought up a great point. we're sending drones into countries where we haven't declared war. we're killi ining targets and civilians in countries where we haven't declared war. we say it's our right because it's our right. what happens when other countries get drone technology and decide to start sending their drones into our country? >> well, that's the big question. i mean, i have always been very wary of the use of drones and these attacks particularly on civilians. and you can't be against it under republicans and be for it under democrats.

i agree with walter that the president is being more transparent, and i think the release of more records are good, but i think that it bothers me that anyone would have the power to kill civilians, particularly in countries we're not at war with, and we don't know what the policies and the guidelines are. so i think that we've got to really look at this, and we have to be consistent. there's going to be a president after president obama. so even though i may trust and i do president obama, if we set a precedent now, are we going to live with that if the next president is someone we don't approve of and the president after that? so we really need to be careful what we do on this issue. >> and presidential power seems to expand. it never seems to contract. you're exactly right. what you just said is what i said during impeachment to other republicans. you do understand, republicans aren't going to -- or democrats aren't going to occupy the white house forever. at some point democrats are going to occupy the standards under which we hold bill clinton will be held to our president's.

and that's the problem, walter, with these drone attacks. and constitutionally, the president of the united states being able to look at a piece of paper and say, okay, kill that person. don't kill that person. kill that person. don't -- and one of those names on the list is an american and there's no transparency, there's no judicial review, walter, that's radical. >> well, you need transparency. i think it's good the president's going to release some of the memos, but you have to realize that war has changed so radically. what we have is -- you know, wars that used to be against nation states. if we were at war against germany, nobody worried about are we going to bomb dresden, fire bomb dresden, whatever it may be. now we're at war with nonstate actors like al qaeda. perhaps we need a way to say, we are declaring war against al qaeda, and that's going to justify the use of force against anybody affiliated with al qaeda. >> you know who mika's at war with? apple. >> what did they do to you? >> i just got charged for a hard

drive for a computer that i used maybe once a month in the past 12 months because it just exploded, and they charged me $200. i'm telling you, apple parts break, and then you have to pay a lot of money. or you can buy apple care. are you kidding me? please. samsung, where are you? >> we all say -- >> that's where i'm moving. >> i'm curious since you wrote the book on steve jobs, we all say steve jobs never done the trick they did with iphone 5 where you've got to buy a charger for an ipad and a different charger for an iphone 5. >> his great genius is that he cared passionately about the customer. he said you put the product first and the service first instead of profits, you're going to make your profits in the long run. but if you focus on profits, you're going to skimp on the product. i think he would have been a lot more passionate when it came to everything from siri to the plus, but more importantly, he would have been really passionate saying every three years, we blow people away with

something totally amazing. what's next? when will we put out a tv set? >> apple's not doing that now. the iphone 5. >> they're fiddling around right now with the beautiful designs. >> mini. sbhoo but they haven't yet broken into the whole new, you know, make me go wow industry. >> exactly. i'm going to get three more news stories in. we'll be talking about drones next block with senator ron wyden, so that will be interesting. but in other news and what could be one of his final speeches as defense secretary, leon panetta criticized lawmakers in congress who have done little to avoid across-the-board spending cuts due to take effect on march 1st. that would slash the pentagon's budget. >> what creates a serious risk today is the pervasive budget uncertainty that threatens our security and threatens our economic future. the shadow of sequestration, this legislative madness, that

was designed to be so bad, so bad that no one in their right mind would let it happen. this is not a game. this is reality. these steps would seriously damage the fragile american economy, and they would degrade our ability to respond to crises precisely at a time of rising instability across the globe. >> those planned budget cuts are part of the sequestration deal agreed to by congress as part of an effort to force compromise on the national debt. >> you wouldn't think the defense budget has doubled over the past couple of years. >> it's so bloated. >> come on. >> the problem is the way we talk about these things. if you're against defense cuts, you're against defending the country. if you're against entitlement cuts, you're against our senior citizens. everything is so demagogued, it's almost impossible inside

washington anyway to have an adult conversation about what really needs to get done. >> the defense budget is so bloated, we spend more money as a country on defense than every other country on the planet combined. >> it's the bottom line. >> and we're to believe that if we make some of these cuts that suddenly we're going to have to bring our navy home. >> i don't think so. you should see the mansions in mclane where a lot of these defense contractors live. new jersey governor chris christie, not too pleased with some unsolicited medical advice from a former white house doctor. and i don't really blame him. the new jersey republican pushed back at physician connie mariana who said in an interview tuesday that she's worried about chr christ christie's create issues and that they could potentially kill him in office. take a look. >> i find it fascinating that a doctor in arizona who's never met me, never examined me, never reviewed my medical history or

records, knows nothing about my family history, could make a diagnosis from 2,400 miles away. she must be a genius. this is just another hack who wants five minutes on tv. and it's completely irresponsible, completely irresponsible. my children saw that last night. and she sat there on tv and said, i'm afraid he's going to die in office. my 12-year-old son came to me last night and said, "dad, are you going to die?" if she wants to get on a plane and come to new jersey and ask if she wants to review me and my medical history, i'll have a conversation with her about that. until that time, she should shut up. >> there you go. >> new jersey's own. >> governor christie from my home state of new jersey. he's right about this doctor, about this woman, but i still don't know why it's wrong. if he aspires to be president of the united states, if he wants to sit in that office, why it's not at least okay to talk about what is a serious health problem. if he wants to sit in office and be our president, shouldn't we have some right to concern over

his health? i mean, al, you've lost a ton of weight. how did you deal with being in the public eye? >> i mean, i've had cartoons done on me. i've been lampooned. but to say you're going to die, i think that's a step over the line. >> i agree with that. >> especially, like he said, your children. >> unsolicited. >> i think that it went too far. but it is a legitimate question about weight and obesity if you're running for higher office. >> that's what i'm saying. >> i think that's legit. but for the doctor to go that far, i think he had a right to be upset about that. but he's going to have to deal with the issue if he runs for president. >> he certainly is. walter, we're not used to politicians telling people to shut up, yelling at callers who call in and ask about where their children go to school. poor gail. we'll always remember gail for that. but chris christie is a unique guy in this age of, you know, blow dried politicians. this guy -- >> it helps him enormously that he's genuine, he's real, he says

exactly what you would have said if somebody had done that to you. and we used to say in washington, it was the old mike ki kinsley, the defense of a gaffe is when somebody tells the truth in washington. i think we're hungering for someone who's so genuine. he did it with the hurhurricane. he got a lot of republicans annoyed when he worked with the president after the storm. and now he just says what he feels. i think that's going to be his biggest calling card. >> you think he's good? >> oh, yeah, he's good. >> you think he's a good choice for republicans moving forward as the standard bearer for the party? >> oh, sure. i think what he's done on education and his ability to work with the democratic legislative or cory booker. i think he's shown he's a good guy. >> so, okay. walter and reverend al, thank you very much. stay with us if you can. coming up, senator ron wyden of oregon is pressuring the president for more information on the legal justification for drone strikes against americans abroad. he joins us live. and later, backstage with

barry manilow. we visited the grammy award winner behind the scenes during his opening night on broadway. the owner of a broadway theater, jordan roth, joins us. first, bill karins with the forecast. >> almost all of our computers agreeing, two storms combined for one in new england. it will push into new england throughout your friday. really intensifying friday night. let me take you through it. first things first, don't want to forget about our friends in the deep south. a rainy day. this is part two of the storm that will combine with the storm in the northern great lakes that will make our blizzard. it's two storms combining into one, and they'll really intensify off the coast of new england. as far as the blizzard watches, now long island is included in the blizzard watches. areas of green will see the highest winds and worst conditions. one to two feet of snow widespread through this region. here's my official snowfall map. we are looking, again, the area of 12 to 24 inches. i think some areas near the 495

loop, someone's going to get up to 30 inches of snow. boston officially 18 to 24. the reason new york city's a little less, rain mixing in friday then turning into heavy snow on the backside. it's going to be a mess. no one's going to want to travel in new england probably until sunday. you're watching "morning joe" brewed by starbucks. whoa !

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19 past the hour. later today, john brennan will arrive on capitol hill to begin his confirmation hearings for the job of cia director. his testimony will spark a debate on war against terrorists abroad. >> tonight i can report to the american people and to the world

that the united states has conducted an operation that killed osama bin laden, the leader of al qaeda. >> reporter: the manhunt for the most-wanted terrorist in u.s. history not only predates the term "war on terror" but ushered in a new era of modern warfare. >> my most solemn obligation is the security of the american people. over the past four years, we've met that responsibility. >> reporter: to keep his promise to the american people, president obama is putting his faith in john brennan, a 5-year u.s. intelligence vet and his nominee for cia director. brennan was up for the same job in 2008, but his ties to coercive interrogation methods used under the bush administration forced him to withdraw his name. now brennan serves as a close adviser to president obama, overseeing one of the most controversial war-related programs. >> the united states is the first nation to regularly conduct strikes using remotely-piloted aircraft in an

armed conflict. these targeted strikes against al qaeda terrorists are indeed ethical and just. >> reporter: after a failed attempt to kill bin laden in 1998, the u.s. government took decisive action to protect the homeland. three years later, the first successful predator drone strike killed a top al qaeda commander in afghanistan. and now that program is the white house's primary tool against terror. >> john developed and has overseen our comprehensive counterterrorism strategy, a collaborative effort across the government including intelligence and defense and homeland security and law enforcement agencies. >> reporter: brennan calls his strategy the playbook, a set of evolving rules adopted by the obama administration as a guide on how to fight a high-tech global war prominently featuring drone attacks. as a member of obama's inner circle, he provides the president with a highly confidential document filled with high-profile terror

suspects known as the kill list. >> there is nothing in international law that bans the use of remotely-piloted aircraft for this purpose or that prohibits us from using lethal force against our enemies outside of an active battlefield. >> reporter: the military is now averaging 33 drone strikes per month in afghanistan. and since the program was created, there have been more than 400 in noncombat regions such as pakistan, yemen and sew ma somalia. >> today i can say to the cia in director brennan you'll have one of your own and a leader who has my complete confidence and my complete trust. >> joining us from capitol hill, democratic senator from oregon and member of the senate intelligence committee, senator ron wyden. it's good to have you on the show this morning, senator. >> thank you for having me back. >> so you're part of the bipartisan group that has called for more information on drones. you've tweeted, saying that every american has the right to know when their government believes it is allowed to kill

them. it does, though, remind me of debates from past administrations where the answer might be you'd be affecting, impacting, perhaps even hurting our national security if we release too much information. >> well, that's right. and this has always been a debate about how we can ensure both our security and our liberty. and i simply believe that we can strike a better balance than we have in the past. now, last night's step by the president is an encouraging one. there's certainly a lot more to do. >> what's your thought -- "the wall street journal" today came out with an editorial actually supporting the president on the drone issue. and is concerned about the prospects of actually having a fisa-type court that you passed certain suggestions regarding drone strikes through judges. what's your position there? >> first of all, joe, what a member of the committee can say about the details of the drone

program are very, very restrictive. and in fact, in that clip that you all ran, i heard john brennan mention twice "remotely-piloted aircraft." as far as i can tell, he has actually only used the word "drones" once in public. now, what i'm going to be pressing for today and in the days ahead is declassifying more information about those issues. i think we can do it consistent with national security. and that's the next step. >> walter? >> so walter, the white house doesn't like to talk about the drone strikes, obviously. you even have brennan who doesn't like to use the word "drone." yesterday jay carney was turning cartwheels to avoid getting specific. doesn't there have to be more transparency if this is really going to be the center of our antiterror program? >> yeah. i think at some point, we have to decide what are we going to do as a nation and as a world to have certain protocol, certain

rules of the road, certain rules of engagement for drones just like we do for mines and atomic weapons and chemical and biological. i actually think that there is a very valid reason to use drones, to use pilotless aircraft in a war when you have a declared war and you have a declared, you know, target. but you want to have an open discussion of how we're going to put this into the context of the type of weapons we can and cannot use. >> al, do you have a question? >> i think, senator, is it not a real opportunity for those of us that were concerned about the lack of transparency under president bush and others to set policy to show that we are going to have a policy where we're open as long as we're not compromising national security and where civilians would not just be arbitrarily at risk with being killed by united states missiles? >> al, you and joe are touching

on the key point, and that's transparency and accountability. and you're absolutely right. this is the time. we're living in an age where, in effect, the military and the intelligence lines have really blurred. we've got to have much more robust congressional oversight. and i do think this all has to lead to a more informed public debate. now, i was encouraged last night when the president called and he said as part of this effort, he is going to try to drive a more extensive discussion about these issues. and i think both you and joe are touching on the fact that without transparency and without accountability, we can't strike the right balance between security and liberty. >> senator, donny deutsch. what am i missing here? what americans are going to be targeted by drones unless it is such an extreme definitive circumstance? am i missing something here? >> well, donny, you can't get into the details of any operation, and that's why i

pushed so hard for more than two years to actually see the legal analysis. i have felt that the committee, and there are 15 of us on the senate committee. there's a house committee as well. we've really been in the dark on these kinds of issues. and by law, we are required to do vigilant oversight. and in a couple of hours i'll be going in to look at the legal underpinnings of this program and we'll have more to say about it then. >> let me ask the senator a question. ron, are you more concerned about the possibility of americans being targeted, or are you concerned most about the general use of drones without rules of the road? >> every american has the right to know when their government believes it's allowed to kill them. i don't think that, as one person said, that is too much to ask. and this idea that security and liberty are mutually exclusive, that you can only have one or the other, is something i reject. so we're now going to have to

begin the heavy lifting of the congressional oversight process by examining the legal underpinnings of this program and to make very clear i am going to push for more declassification of these key kinds of programs. and i think we can do that consistent with national security. >> senator ron wyden, thank you very much. we'll be watching. >> thank you, ron. >> thanks for having me. up next, the man "time" magazine calls the new voice of the republican party. we'll get an exclusive first look at this week's "covcover. and later, former ceo of gm and at&t and nbc political director, chuck todd. keep it right here on "morning joe." at 1:45, the aflac duck was brought in

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welcome back. 32 past the hour. joining us now, "time" magazine managing editor rick stengel who is here to reveal the latest issue of "time." >> let me just say, if there is a political equivalent of the "sports illustrated" jinx which means when you declare somebody the national champ in waiting,

they, of course, have a complete collapse. >> are you saying, joe, that i did that deliberately? >> i'm not saying that. i'm just saying we're going to reveal this, and you have completely doomed this guy. >> i feel bad about it. >> were you thinking the same thing? please, this is the worst thing you can do for anybody. the guy is going to be selling popsicle sticks that he has handpainted in south beach in two years. >> no. >> because of this cover. this is a curse! >> i did that for you, joe. because really, so many people regard you as the republican savior. i wanted to jinx the other guy from florida. >> if it ever comes through your mind, please do not put me on the cover of "time" magazine. tell everybody who we have here. >> just saying, we have marco rubio on the cover of "time." >> show the cover, guys. >> marco rubio. >> the man who may actually help bridge a deal on immigration, which is so important to this nation and obviously to president obama as well. but talking about the "time" jinx, joe. >> yes. >> we put barack obama on the

cover in 2006 before he declared saying the man who may be the next president. >> however, my first -- >> by joe kline. >> i went many, many years with rick. the first cover i ever wrote for "time" i was so proud of it, was called "john connelly, hot on the trail." >> i was just going to say, we're also going to have to do the four times that "time" predicted harold strasman was going to win it. >> jimmy carter. that was good. >> and we did my old boss, bill bradley. >> he did not get the nomination. >> oh, he lost. >> i think it's the walter jinx. not the "time" jinx. >> there you go. >> let's talk about this. the republican savior. that's awfully bold. was that more of a marketing move, or do you guys really believe that marco rubio is the republican savior? >> it's a discussion point. there's a little bit ironic, too, because of course people are looking -- you know, people on the left in a way are looking

more for a republican savior than people on the right. i'm not even sure that republicans regard themselves as needing a savior. >> we need something. >> rubio is interesting because he is, as we saw, he's extremely conservative on fiscal issues, on so many social issues. he voted against the debt ceiling deal. he is a fiscal conservative. at the same time, on an issue like immigration, because the personal becomes political in his case. he is looking at what is best for america in terms of bringing these folks, many of whom didn't come here, you know, on their own steam, came here as young children. these people are americans just the way his family was. i mean, turns out that his grandfather was an undocumented immigrant. and because of special legislation that we have regarding cubans, the 1966 cuban refugee law, you know, he was allowed to become a citizen. so he is the beneficiary of this. he knows that we, of course, are a nation of immigrants. i think it will move him more

towards the middle and move him as a person who can reconcile left and right. >> speak offing of immigrants, what is the back story -- i know there was cloudiness early on about his story about his family, about his upbringing. what have you cleared up there? >> well, michael grunwald wrote our story, and he cites this biography of came out on rubio i believe last year which actually determined that the grandfather was an undocumented immigrant who came from cuba. but again, because of the cold war, because of what was -- the post-cuban missile crisis era, he was grandfathered in, as it were, as a citizen which couldn't have happened if he was a mexican or el salvadorian or whatever. because he was cuban. >> what about the concerns that he sort of isn't mature enough in politics? >> you know, richard haass, one of your frequent guests, had me come to the council last year and do a q&a with rubio on foreign policy. i found him amazingly astute and

mature to ask a question and understanding of foreign policy issues that was actually deep and subtle. i don't -- you know, he's very youthful looking, but he feels like an old soul at the same time. despite the fact that he likes hip-hop. >> you're really selling this guy. those are some bold words. >> i want to kind of override the jinx. >> the jinx. >> it's a big one. you also talk about the contenders. some great pictures in here of academy award contenders. here, of course, is hugh jackman and anne hathaway from "les mis." >> it's a photo gallery of folks up for the academy awards. but the theme of the story which jessica winters wrote is really about how so many of the most important films of the year this year meld fact and fiction. they meld history and contemporary events. that's kind of a new thing. it's an old thing, but it's a new thing this year.

of course, we had kathryn bigelow on the cover a few weeks ago. >> yes, you did. is that a bear? >> sally field. this is lovely. >> i love the sally field picture and i love the story that spielberg gave about them not wanting to cast sally field, and then she called up and basically, "it's my role. this is my role whether you know it or not, spielberg." >> that's a great story. >> i guess he said that he had to go -- she had to go out and talk to daniel day-lewis. they were, like, yeah, okay. >> she was right. >> she was right. holy cow! >> the bear on a tightrope. "time" magazine. >> always on a tightrope. >> that is the story of my life. >> metaphor for joe. >> we all feel that way. >> that is a bear walking on a tightrope. >> and donny -- >> look at the bored trainer sitting in the chair over there who's so used to looking at the bear on the tightrope. >> donny, why does this picture

speak to you? how does that make you feel? >> kind of a metaphor for -- >> please, don't give him any time to talk. >> weaving through the treacherous paths of life. >> god. >> so walter, do you miss "time"? what do you miss the most? >> i do. one of the things rick has done, what donny has talked about, light box. "time" is always good at, in an age of video and the internet, to say the still photograph can still move you. and by starting light box, that's one of the many things you've done. also, i had his job, so i know how hard it is. but doing the drone story last week. i remember a couple weeks ago seeing it come out online. it sets a tone for what we're discussing. as for rubio, the whole thing -- the whole narrative of american history is who can make us feel more inclusive. and i think that's one of the things the republican party is grappling with now is if you

exude exclusivity, you're not going to bring people in if you include inclusivity. it's that simple. and that's what this guy does. >> inclusivity, a "time" word? you see why walter was the editor of time. he was the great modern editor. >> i was going to ask him about his time at "time." what was your most memorable moment? >> other than doing the cover story on john connelly that set the tone for that campaign? >> yeah. >> my most memorable moment, i decided to take a year off to go do some more reporting. and i was in eastern europe in the shipwith regard whyard when were going on, got to meet the revolutionary leader, knocked on the door of their apartment and they were talking about what was going on happen in those revolutions. and you see the freeflow of information whether it's a fax machine to satellite tv or cnn

breaking the stranglehold of power on eastern europe. >> that's really cool. >> you talked to him in '80, '81 -- >> solidarity. >> -- could you tell at that moment that -- >> absolutely. >> -- history was turning, that it was about to be bent? >> here's what you can tell, which i worry about the current twitter and facebook revolutions. you can tell that there was a movement happening but with real leaders who had been tested by standing on the gates of the shipyard or going to jail as javel had done. and this is another story that you did when you did the man of the year on it, tend to be leaderless. they don't have somebody forged by fire leading them. and that was the big difference of the revolutions of the '80s and the fall of communism. >> all right. the new cover of "time" is "the republican savior." rick stengel, thank you so much. walter, thank you as well. >> it's always good to be on with a great successful editor.

up next, "morning joe" theater guru, jordan roth takes us behind the scenes of barry manilow's new production on broadway. oh, my god. okay. we'll be right back. [ female announcer ] going to sleep may be easy, but when you wake up in the middle of the night it can be frustrating. it's hard to turn off and go back to sleep. intermezzo is the first and only prescription sleep aid approved for use as needed in the middle of the night

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has some risk of dependency. common side effects are headache, nausea, and fatigue. so if you suffer from middle-of-the-night insomnia, ask your doctor about intermezzo and return to sleep again. ♪ [ male announcer ] when we built the cadillac ats from the ground up to be the world's best sport sedan... ♪

...people noticed. ♪ the all-new cadillac ats -- 2013 north american car of the year. ♪ for a limited time, take advantage of this exceptional offer on the all-new cadillac ats. ♪ at the copacabana ♪ the hottest spot north of havana ♪ he calls himself -- he calls himself the justin bieber of the '70s. >> that's about right. >> and now superstar barry manilow is back on broadway for the first time in more than two decades. oh, my god! >> love it. i'm a rock snob, but i love this guy. >> "copacabana." jordan roth gives us an all-access pass to the show.

>> this is big! >> take a look. ♪ >> all right, team "morning joe." it looks like we've made it. manilow on broadway, opening night. the st. james. we're about to go backstage. here we go. ♪ >> to finally make it to broadway is beyond belief. you know, we're used to hockey arenas. you're sitting in a 15,000-seat arena, you're a long way. this is special. you feel like you're communicating with everybody in the theater. >> the house has just opened for opening night. opening night, "manilow on broadway." what brings you here tonight? >> to see barry. because i have 12 tickets all together for the different shows. >> that's amazing. how many times have you seen him live? >> well over 200. ♪ copacabana >> happy opening. >> thank you. thank you. i'm very excited to be here. >> what brings you here? >> i found barry manilow's high

school yearbook from 1961. here it says number nine, best musician, barry manilow. and it says "arlene burned this book because he signed it for me many years ago." >> we are here with the magic maker himself, mr. clive davis. welcome to "manilow on broadway." >> thank you. it's exciting to be here opening night. >> what is it about barry that has allowed him to stand the test of time? >> it is his performing ability. i mean, to see what he does with an audience, to see how he lifts them up time and time again. you know, he's a headliner. >> we are heading to the copa for your opening night. >> right. >> did you ever think when you were writing that song all those years ago that you'd be going tonight to your broadway opening? >> i never really thought about it. that's a great choice for an opening night party. >> perfect. >> you coming? >> you ready to greet your fans? here we go. ♪ music and passion were always the fashion ♪ ♪ at the copa

♪ she lost her love ♪ copacabana >> louis! >> doing the white man. >> i bring you genuine "manilow on broadway" glow sticks. >> those are cool. don't waste them! don't waste them! oh, my lord. >> i love it. >> i am a monster manilow fan. i have been. the amount of hits that this guy has -- >> 50 top 40 hits. >> and what he's written outside of the stuff that he performs. he's truly one of the great entertainers of our generation. >> the thing people don't know about manilow is even before "mandy" and "i wrote the songs" broke, he wrote some of the best-known jingles of the '70s. ♪ so get up >> how do you know that? >> i know everything. >> he did that? >> from the time it went on in 1970 till the time -- >> he was in my dad's car with

the eagles and jim croce. he was one of the cassette sleeves in my dad's car. >> this is the thing. it's sort of the sound track of our lives. when you come to the show, you watch this audience creating community around him. these memories, these songs, the way that he connects with us this early. it's a remarkable experience. >> as you said that, because it is, in my life, i had broken up with a girlfriend. i was missing her. i was listening to "weekend in new england." >> what a song. >> got really choked up, got back with her, which was a mistake. >> but it wasn't his fault. not his fault. >> are you sure? >> all of my tortured years, again, i loved rock music, but i always slip back, i'd listen to barry manilow and the carpenters. and whether it's "weekend in new england," i've got a sad memory of a girl breaking my heart there, "mandy." "could it be magic"? i could go on and on. >> manilow is always there for us. >> he is. with all due respect to clive

davis who is, you know, the king of music, it wasn't about barry manilow's performing. it was the songs. it all comes down to the songs. this guy is one of the great songwriters. they had songwriters like this back in the '40s and the '50s. he was a master. >> was louis the youngest guy there? i mean, was it all people in that demo? >> you know something? it is a remarkable wide range of people that connect to this music, young people, older people. i will tell you, those glow sticks, you have never seen a concert like this. people are standing up and waving their glow sticks of all ages. it's a good deal. >> mika, "the new york times" called this musical chicken soup for the soul. that's a good way to -- like i said, i always listened to zeppelin, and i listened -- you know, beatles, the kinks, the rolling stones, stuff like that. but when you needed musical chicken soup, that was -- you put on manilow or the carpenters

or whatever. but do you have a favorite barry manilow song? do you know any manilow songs? >> i do. >> what's your favorite? >> i can't. i can't -- i shouldn't speak. >> what song? >> i'm a scold. it kind of drives me crazy. >> he drives you crazy? >> i'm sorry. barry manilow does. >> you are a hater of great popular culture. >> no, i'm not. i'm unpop cultured. but my best friend used to make fun of me. i think there's "coming to america" he sang or something. >> neil diamond. >> did he sing "don't cry out loud"? >> "even now." "copa." >> "i write the songs." >> "can't smile without you." >> "can't smile without you" sing-along on broadway at the james. nothing -- >> really? do i need to go? >> i'm telling you -- >> you need to be converted. >> i think the world will open to you. >> it will. "i write the songs."

"could it be magic?" "trying to get the feeling again." did he do "new york city rhythm"? >> oh, yeah. >> "on broadway." >> he had to, right? >> oh, yeah. >> we'll wave our glow sticks as we go to commercial break. >> we should turn off the lights. pretend it's the super bowl. all right. we're going to get -- >> i'm sorry, i'm not with you. >> we're going to get mika to scold out. >> i admit this. i'm going to try. >> you would love it, mika, i'm telling you, you would love it. take your daughter. >> i tell you what. we'll go as a group. >> yes. >> you'll have a good time. >> group therapy. >> group therapy. chicken soup for the soul. >> you can catch "manilow on broadway" live at the st. james treater in new york city. for more information, visit manilowonbroadway.com and also mojo.msnbc.com. jordan, great to see you. >> the lights go out, the glow sticks come out. >> all right. we'll be right back. [ male announcer ] susan writes children's books.

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why are you dancing around the question of whether or not we kill civilians. >> i don't think i'm dancing around it.

i didn't dispute it. what i can't do or what i'm not -- i don't disagree with that? >> do you think this will imperil john brennan's qualification? >> he is uniquely qualified as a 25 year veteran. >> it's 8:00 on the east coast and 5:00 on the west coast. we take a live look at new york city. welcome back to "morning joe." we have donny deutsch. >> skrumtuous. >> you know who else is? >> steve ratner. and in washington, andrea mitchell. we will get to the news. members of congress demanding more details than to have the

administration justify the targeted killing of american citizens. the white house said president obama directed the department of justice to greet members of the intelligence committees. it comes led by democratic senators called for more insight into the legal rational for drone strikes against americans abroad. he took his frustrations to twitter writing every american has the right to know when the government believes it's allowed to kill them. this followed the memo detailing criteria required for such a strike. this is unfolding on the senate confirmation for john brennan nominated to be the next head of the cia. i wonder if this could get in the way of brennan again. >> this is so much in a state of flux right now.

clearly the president called to the senator last night and so unusual to try to reassure him and ward off what could be a clampitous hearing today. john mccain raised those issues, but in terms of the democratic group and susan collins was one as well. the 11 senators led by john and three are on the committee including susan collins and they were pushing for the release of this. the house intelligence and not in the confirmation process and he lent his voice and senator feinstein was working behind the scenes and the president called him. this is a big deal because now the drone policy is going to be central to the confirmation hearing today. >> wow. >> yesterday pete waner wrote this.

he is quoting barack obama from 2009, the famous speech. let me be clear. we are at war with al qaeda and we need to do so with due process and law. in checks and balances and accountability. for reasons i will explain the decisions that were made over the last eight years and established an add hock legal approach that was neither sustainable or effective that fell on the legal traditions and time tested institutions that failed to use our values as a compass. those words, steve, whether you agree with this drone program or not makes this president look hypocritical at best. >> i can't argue with that. >> why don't you just say pete is right?

>> i'm not sure he's right or not. on the issue of disclosure, the first thing that people tagged obama for the fact that he insisted on disclosure of push. >> and transparency and checks and balances. >> i don't think he is on the strongest ground and i can't understand why there is this version of the memo so americans do know the policy on these matters. that's fine. the question of whether you undertake operations that may endanger american citizens when you have good reason and follow procedures, i don't think the president is on weak ground and asserted his right to do that. >> i want to respond to speaking this way in 2009 and speaks this way today. when a president is in office after four years of living in reality of coming from outside the beltway, you do change your tune sometimes. idealistically going in may felt one way and living in the

reality made and brought up to speed on the reality -- >> you were saying what i was saying six months before the president is elected that maybe he shouldn't be so critical until he knew the challenges they faced. he was so judgmental. he was so self righteous and so damning of george w. bush suggesting that he didn't respect the constitution and checks and balances. my gosh, what he is doing at least in my mind is worse. >> george w. bush was elected on a platform of saying we are not going to get involved in nation building and we have done too much of that and he turned into the biggest nation builder president we had in a long time. >> after 9/11, right. i don't think he ever accused

bill clinton of shredding the constitution as he was accused of doing. >> i have to say i was definitely on the critical member of things as were members of my family. we were very, very concerned about how far the administration pushed the boundaries of not only what is constitutional, but morally right. this is definitely in the same category. completely in the same category. i'm not saying we shouldn't be doing it. >> it's not the point that pete is trying to make or i'm trying to make. or the point i have been trying to make for five or six years. we will pull the tape. when liberals were talking about they were angry at barack obama for suggesting he was not going

to push to have george w. bush tried for war crimes. they were screaming and yelling and remember saying you really want that to happen? what standard will barack obama be held to after the pictures of the little children who are killed by his drone attacks are placed before the jury? again, the self righteousness and hypocrisy of the left to go silent when we are talking about targeting and killing americans without any due process and without any evidence. there is a double standard here. i want everybody that said what they said about george w. bush who by the way briefed dianne feinstein and briefed jay rockefeller and briefed democrats in charge of the intel committee in 2002 about exactly what they were doing, i want those people to apologize to george w. bush. >> you said you don't have a

problem with it. did you or do you still have a problem about people held at guantanamo without due charge. if you have any problem with that, how could you not? >> i didn't have the problems with george w. bush either. i believe this is war, not law enforcement. i'm not going to answer, but with reality. i said to you these domestic drone attacks or holding in guantanamo bay would prevent a family member in the future being killed, right on. we sit here unless it hits close to home. i in the world of terror think there new rules. i'm a liberal overall and in this instance i think quite the opposite. >> this is not what brought down the bush administration. he was reelected. i know friends in the voting booth holding their babies and

going to vote against bush and didn't because he was so "strong on foreign policy." i also don't think -- >> i trusted gorge bush to make hard tough decisions they thought john kerry might waiver on. >> thank you. that's why i don't think obama will have a problem with this. he will look like he did a year ago when he killed bin laden, he alongs strong on foreign policy and this will not provide a weak spot. >> i agree with you there. i don't think there will be a political fallout, but one of the thing that disturbs me is the fact that americans are not any more concerned about other americans being able to be target and killed without due process. i will say it again because i hear people say why didn't you say that over george w. bush, i did. i did on padilla.

there were americans whose constitutional rights were being vis rated and i spoke out then and i am speaking out now. i'm frightened that more americans are not focused on this. >> i think what's fair is your frustration about the hypocrisy in terms of reaction on the left. andrea, i want to ask you in terms of the drone strikes and what happened so far, as far as we know the story as it pertains to civilian casualties, you have written about this and little children getting caught in the crossfire. how much of that is a part of the story and how much of that has happened? >> we don't know. there all sorts of allegations that come from yemen and pakistan and frankly there is very little reporting on the

ground. they are hard to get to in the territories in pakistan. we don't have american or other western reporters there. we don't know what is happening and what the blow back is. john brennan indicated through friends and associates that he wanted these strikes to be fairly rare and wants them moved back to the pentagon. there is a 7 hum00% increase wi president obama than under bush. >> i know from my sources not only the agency but the intelligence community when barack obama came into office they specifically said they wanted to ramp up drone operations and they wanted there to be a side by side comparison of how many strikes bush did versus how many strikes they did. for brennan to say he wants to

pull back on drone strikes, that's not accurate and what's been happening since january 20th, 2009. you can go back and when the history is written, you will go back to january 20th, 2009 and see deliberate executive orders and again, most americans probably support this policy. it's not like i'm talking about anything scandalous. most people support the president doing this, but it obviously causes a lot of concerns and specifically because we can't figure it out. as you know, andrea, people on the ground are going to exaggerate and sometimes the numbers will be faulty. we are going to try to underplay it. we may never know how many are killed in the strikes. the other big issue here is the legal justification. why they resisted in bringing the committees and brief the

committee this morning, hours before the hearing, why they fought this for so many months when there have not been the committees. they are working closely. dianne feinstein and michael rogers on the house side. that is a mystery why they fought so hard. the other piece is that their definition of imminent is really troublesome to a lot of people. not just people on the left or democrats, but a lot of people who believe that describing an imminent threat as an ongoing threat without a specific plot takes it too far and the fact that from left year, the kill list with the president signing of a on these. he said in his written answers that these are all very carefully vetted. people want to know what's the oversight.

>> political director chuck todd and howard fineman. in a few minutes, chairman and ceo of general motors and at&t, but first a look at the forecast. >> be careful what you ask for. the skiers and the snowmobilers. people have been complaining they haven't got snow storms this winter. it will be historic. we are watching two storms. one over minnesota and another along the gulf. they will combine for friday and saturday. we have blizzard warnings in effect, the green color. you can go from boston to new haven and now eastern long island under blizzard watches. we have warnings today or tomorrow. one to two feet of snow. that's enough to do damage and knock down trees and we will deal with coastal flooding in areas of long island.

my fashl snow forecast is to 12 inches of snow. you take a look at what's going to happen from eastern long island to connecticut and rhode island and southern new hampshire and coastal maine, a foot plus. a land with thunderstorms. lightning and thunder when it's snowing to the west of boston. someone in there is going get 24 to 30 inches of snow and it will be a crippling blizzard. our friends in the great lakes are also getting snow. winter snow warnings. you have your own slippery travel to deal with. crippling blizzard headed for new england. the time to be off the roads is pretty much from friday afternoon through probably until at least saturday afternoon so the clean up continues. new york city around six to eight inches after a rain friday. that snow will come in friday

night. you are watching "morning joe" brewed by starbucks.

. that was a $10,000 online ad by karl roves from american cross roads. to protect mitch mcconnell's seat, ashley judd hasn't made any decisions, but her publicists thanked them for the attention. the chief white house correspondent and daily director and here on set, editorial director media group, howard fineman. >> and former kentucky reporter. >> then you would know.

entitled karl rove is done. reads in part this. now comes the likes of senators such as ted cruz of texas and rand paul of ken tuck tow challenge him. smart, angry and aspect establishment conservatives who loathe the country club types and want to remake the parties in the isolationist in the antisocial welfare and anti-tax image, conservatives have the right to ask the roves of the world to ask what the gopers have done to limit the reach of government and enhance the libertarian view of the world. the answer to the rand pauls of the world is nothing. >> that was a long paragraph. >> and you take a guy like ted cruise, he went it a community college in texas or was it

harvard? this rove ad suggests quite a few things. mitch mcconnell is concerned about ashley judd. >> he is concerned in general. he is a power here in washington and who i covered back when he was county judge in louisville. he has never been wildly popular in the state. he always had a tough race even when he hasn't had significant opponents and he's on a fault line. kentucky is a red state in presidential elections, mitch is not that popular. what he is afraid of is not ashley judd, but a tea party-style attack along the lines of that. >> he has reason to be concerned. obviously back in 2008 or 2010, rand paul was running in the primaries and mcconnell and the entire kentucky establishment

with rand aggressively -- rand paul's machine beat him and wasn't even close. >> it's a very complicated legacy. without mitch mcconnell there would be no thrivingly party in the state of kentucky. one thing he has done is be architect. that made 2010 the rejection of his guy so striking. mitch mcconnell's fingerprints used to be on every race in the state beyond his own. he was always trying to orchestrate and build the party. she squeezed a little bit. not just worried about tea party, but also about not just ashley judd. in many ways this was about raising money and bringing attention. he was worried about this member of congress that held to the

lexington congressional seat and ran statewide and failed in a bid for governor. he would be a centrist democrat and could be a real problem for mitch mcconnell. democrats overperform in mid-term years. >> the first thing he did was to hire rand paul's campaign manager. >> if you can't beat em, join em. >> he hired rand paul's goy. >> that's a good move. >> smart move. >> that's fascinating. whether we are talking about kentucky or whatever state, an issue is going to be gun control and immigration and a lot of these issues. >> check out this poll that shows overwhelming support for universal background check when it comes to buying guns. 92% of people surveyed of in favor of screenings for all

buyers. just 7% opposed. 56% was for an assault weapon bans. almost the same for high capacity magazines. 56% to 40%. >> it changed with assault weapon bans and bans on high capacity magazines, but if you guys can put back up the first full universal background checks and i have to ask my republican brothers and sisters this morning, are you really going to be captive to the wayne la pierre survivalist wing of the nra and be in the 7% of extremists that are going to be against keeping guns out of the hands of felons? chuck todd, how does wayne la pierre convince republicans they

should go over the cliff and be in the 7% instead of the 92%? >> he had a hard time convincing himself since he was for this in 1999. the idea of universal background checks and saying this legislation will work. it's a tough -- i don't know how he tried to make this argument. we don't know if it will really work. then you are saying it's not a big deal if it happens? his argument, he has to come up with a better argument if he is going to expect what you are asking. if some of these republican members are going to follow him over this. this is the only thing that has a chance of passing. you go to the other two numbers, that 52% and 40%. in a place like kentucky, it's over 50%. plenty of red state democrats that are not going to sign on. >> he wants ben chandler to run

and ask him what he's going to say. >> i'm not recruiting anybody. >> anyway, ben chandler is not going to get near him. to answer your question on universal background checks, i think the key word is universal. if you listen to the chatter among gun advocates, they are now referring to universal as a code word for making sure that your name has to go to registry if you sell your shotgun to your neighbor. he has all kinds of paranoid fears. >> this is scary. why do people get driver's licenses, joe? i will be on i list. >> those are the argue ams that wayne la pierre is going to make to scare people away from this. president obama is not going to

mention either assault weapons ban or the other thing that has 50% approval in the state of the union address. he will retreat back to the universal background checks. >> when you look at the numbers and brian, you listened to wayne la pierre's argument, it seems to me he is blatantly pandering to the financial side this. >> you wonder about the demographics of the polling, but to your point, when you want to relaunch the republican party, isn't this one issue where you can get credibility to the middle ground if you went on board with this? you get enough support it seems that if you can't get this one right in the republican party, you will struggle with all the others. >> that is with the political parties not being able to move quickly as they should. as they found out in immigration

they lost the white house because they dragged their feet on immigration. they lost the white house and reelected barack obama. if mitt romney had the same percentage as george w. bush, he would be president right now. it took eight years to figure out. will it take them eight years to figure out that by being pro active and saying you know what we are going to do in the response, we republicans support the ending of gun trafficking. we support several background checks to keep dangerous weapons out of the hands and felons and keep dangerous web ones out of the hands of the mentally ill. the other stuff would follow. >> you are right as a matter of politics. marco rubio will give a response to the state of the union. do you think he will say that? io. if chris christie runs for president? maybe. in iowa and new hampshire it might sell.

that's what it's going to take to change things. a champion. you know how politics works. somebody willing to step out and do that. that's what ronald reagan to create the union you were part of. it needs sbhb guts. >> that is willing to bend history, but that person is not out there. you want to know how sick the republican party is. i don't mean mentally sick, but as a governing force how unhealthy they are, they are being led around by the nose by wayne la pierre and the survivalist wing of the nra and they are embracing the 7% instead of the 92% of americans who believe after newtown that we should do everything we can do to keep guns out of the hands of convicted felons. >> especially the washington republicans. the only hope they have will be the government.

jindal, chris christie, guys like that. >> chuck todd? >> how did miami do recruiting? >> it wasn't bad. we cut the scholarships by five in anticipation of the ncaa nonsense that they can't get right. breaking laws to try to catch miami breaking laws. it wasn't a bad clash. we lost one recruiting war to some team in the state of alabama. i never heard of them. tuscaloosa or something like that. how about ole miss? he pulled no punches, i think. a lost sec guys are chattering about ole miss. >> where i went to law school, they beat florida. >> there you go. they just moved to florida. >> i'm joining a basketball school now. >> good to know. thank you.

>> we will see you at the top of the hour on "the daily rundown," howard fineman, thank you as well. we'll ask former g m&a t and t c ceo. you are watching "morning joe," brewed by starbucks. meet the 5-passenger ford c-max hybrid. when you're carrying a lot of weight, c-max has a nice little trait, you see, c-max helps you load your freight,

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. >> before i started this job, i admit i had doubts. probably a lot like you. i like what i found. i think you will too. when compared to the competition, we win. simple as that. i just know if you get into one of our cars, you will like what you see. >> that was a 2009 commercial featuring then gm chairman ben whitaker made after the bankruptcy. the goal was to win back faith in the troubled auto maker. here with us now, ed is out with a new book, american turn around, reinventing at&t and gm and the way we do business in the usa. great to have you on the show. great for coming in. >> the first question is why in

the world would a smart guy like you jump on to the titanic when it was sinking and how did it turn around? you came on board gm at a difficult time. >> it was not in my mind to be doing that and i got a call from treasury. the treasury department that said would you consider becoming chairman of gm? i said no. i will not do that. i got a call the next day that said look, you are the perfect choice. you worked at a big company and in a unionized company and maybe you have knowledge of management and organizations. this is a great public service. i thought about it and said yes. >> you go up there for the right reasons and when you got to detroit, you go inside of gm. what concern made you say this

has been the problem culturally for sometime? >> i walked into a company and you can imagine morale is not very good. we were in bankruptcy and things it were pretty befuddled and confused. i found a lot of. >> i'm going to read as they describe you. he and his wife linda have two daughters, four grandchildren and one great dog, lucille. that's cool. here's a picture of lucille. family man with his priorities right. >> the dog is important. >> the dog is very important r important. the dog has been with me a long time. >> few elements that have unconditional love and a dog always. >> a man with two daughters needs a good dog.

this is a huge unionized organization and you need the auto crisis so you can survive long-term. can that happen at the postal service. can they not fix it because they don't have the same power and authority? >> i come from the viewpoint that anything is fixable. i have not done a study on the post office so i can't tell you what's going on there. >> did you need a crisis to get the things on the table that were needed to have union work with the company? >> i got there after the bankruptcy. i can't talk to that. all i know is what was there on day one emerging from bankruptcy. there were changes made, sure. people got hurt and pensions were cut and workforces were cut. a lot of things happened, but i got there the day after. >> you talk about reinventing. how was general motors

reinvented after you got there? >> we started to design, build, and sell the world's best vehicles which i think we do today. i don't think we were doing that before. that's a reinvention. to redo all that was. i think there is a new focus and enthusiasm and morale is high. it's a great product. i think gm is back. >> how did the culture change? were you able to make a big change in the culture? what got the work? we got turneded around and invested in the mission. >> i don't think it's a culture issue. the people were down, but they had every reason to be down. what turned that around, i believe was design, build, and sell. we have the accountability and the responsibility and turn it over to them and eliminate a lot of burocracy. we have an understandable

organization chart and get things done and get out of the way. >> what can struggling business owners learn from the book in terms of reinventing the way the business is in this country and this economy? >> make sure you know what you want to do and what you are in business for and what your objective and aim is. treat people like you want to be treated and stay on that course. >> simple stuff. there you go. >> the book is american turn around. thank you so much for being on the show. >> thank you, ed. and thank you for answering the call for public service. >> my pleasure. >> you done good. >> glad we did it. >> we are back in a moment.

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a warning from the network sensors, cbs broadcast and they are telling grammy a tentees to please be sure that buttocks and female breasts are adequately covered and costumes are problematic. please avoid under curves of the buttocks and buttock crack and avoid sheer clothing that could expose female breast nipples. female breast nippl are the worst. i know now not to watch the grammys. soups like no fun. >> cnbc's brian scheckman, have you noticed today we will be talking and brian will show up.

>> we don't introduce him. he pops in. >> until you tell me to go away. >> did anyone book him? >> nobody booked him, but he is better unbooked than brian sullivan is booked. >> true. that's a good point. >> he can take oxygen. >> seriously i could die from asphyxiation when he's on the set. >> which means we love him. >> no, it doesn't. he's a big guy with a big personality. >> he's a big guy with a big heart. >> and big ears. >> that's his way of self deprecating. he gets that out of the way. >> he can fly away with those things. >> what's going on with the markets? >> a couple of things. jobless claims at 366,000. any time that's good. ecb not doing anything with rates.

american airlines and us airways, looks like they are going to get in bed together. the biggest airline in the world. >> what are does it mean for consumers. >> they may not be stuck in charlotte too much. it means probably it's not positive for pricing. you have united that merged with continental and delta that merged with northwest. the three airlines at the top are huge. there won't be as much competition and freedom to compete price-wise. the prices are not going down into the airlines. >> let's talk about george lucas. he's a guy who is making gobs and gobs of money. i understand disney is going to bring the "star wars" series for all its work. they may put out a "star wars" movie every two years for the next couple of decades. >> it better be good. >> i think it will.

>> what do you mean good? you have seen "star wars"? it's horrible. >> what are is wrong with you? >> it is the worst thing i have ever seen. >> even the empire strikes back. >> god yes! >> i can watch it every day. >> you talk like yoda. that was good. >> by the way, he is cashing out on the disney stock. >> "star wars" is so great. >> you know that little jack watching the other night. >> why? >> it's another world. it takes you away. it's fantasy. it's a great story. >> you don't like sci-fi? >> i tried to watch bat man or something. >> you know why she is angry about "star wars"? she hates it because the dark side of the force. she was rooting for darth vader. >> you needed a little het that on the top.

>> she thought he s really fit and took care of his diet. let's talk about this chris christie guy. >> we're good. >> thank you. a stock for two billion. >> he can if he wants to. >> that would be nice. tomorrow doctors will be with us. also t"the washington post," david ig neighbors. we'll be right back.

i top the take a moment and all this month to celebrate february as black history month. we will highlight the moments and the people that changed the course of our nation for the better. >> in 1956 before he was america's first african-american supreme court justice, thurgood marshall was fighting to help authoring lucy, an aspiring young student to break the color barrier at the university of alabama. >> maybe you can't override presidents overnight, but the emancipation proclamation was issued in 1863. 90 odd years ago. i believe that 90 odd years is pretty grad y'all. >> the woman became the first black admitted to the

university. >> he knew where he was going and he made me believe that one day i would be able to be a student at the university. >> in 1992, 40 years after authoring lucy was accepted and expelled from the school, she returned to the university to earn her masters degree in education. alongside her, her daughter who was a student there. >> coming up next, what if anything did we learn today? it's a new day. if your a man with low testosterone, you should know that axiron is here. the only underarm treatment for low t. that's right, the one you apply to the underarm. axiron is not for use in women or anyone younger than 18. axiron can transfer to others through direct contact. women, especially those who are or who may become pregnant,

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>> oh, my god. make it stop. >> i had to do this. >> stop it, please. it's annoying. >> i will stop and come back here. >> why are you guys like that? >> what? >> nothing. i'm sorry. >> why do you not like "star wars"? >> actually, mika, we can't smile without you. >> i was definitely